On Saturday (28th December), the 35-year-old right-arm pacer Vinay Kumar created history in Ranji Trophy as he became the most wicket-taker in the tournament history as a pacer.
During the round one of this new Ranji Trophy season (2019/20), former Karnataka captain Vinay, who is now serving for Puducherry, became the second pace bowler to complete 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy history. Now on the final day of the round three of Ranji Trophy 2019/20, Vinay Kumar moved on top of the table of the most wicket-taker list as a pacer in Ranji Trophy history.
Vinay Kumar broke Pankaj Singh’s record of 409 wickets in Ranji Trophy history
Before this match against Mizoram, Vinay Kumar was four wickets away to create this history. While Puducherry won the match by an innings and 272 runs, Vinay took three wickets in each innings (3/25 & 3/24). After dismissing Pratik Desai (45) in the third innings of the match, Vinay Kumar surpassed Pankaj Singh‘s record of 409 Ranji Trophy wickets.
The right-arm pacer Pankaj Singh was the first pace bowler to claim 400 Ranji Trophy wickets in the last season. Apart from mostly playing for Rajasthan, Pankaj served for Puducherry in the 2018/19 domestic season.
While Pankaj Singh has bagged 409 wickets in Ranji Trophy history, Vinay Kumar has now taken 412 wickets in this tournament history. Vinay is now the seventh most wicket-taking bowler in Ranji Trophy cricket history.
Here is the list of most wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy history
| Player | Role | Wickets |
| Rajinder Goel | Slow left-arm orthodox | 637 |
| Srinivas Venkataraghavan | Right-arm off-break | 530 |
| Sunil Joshi | Slow left-arm orthodox | 479 |
| Narendra Hirwani | Leg-break googly | 441 |
| Bhagwath Chandrasekhar | Leg-break | 437 |
| Vaman Kumar | Leg-break googly | 418 |
| R Vinay Kumar | Right-arm medium | 412 |
| Pankaj Singh | Right-arm medium-fast | 409 |
While Mizoram were bundled out for just 73 runs in the first innings of the latest Ranji Trophy match against Puducherry, Vinay Kumar’s side scored 458/5 decl. in their first innings, thanks to the double century of Paras Dogra (200) and unbeaten century of Suresh Kumar (103*). Later, Puducherry won the match by an innings after dismissing Mizoram for just 113 runs in their second innings.
After playing 133 first-class matches, Vinay Kumar has taken 474 wickets. He served for the Indian national cricket team in one Test, 31 ODIs and nine T20Is where the right-arm pacer scalped one, 38 and 10 wickets respectively.